Scam Through Matrimonial Website In India.

Hello females, Please be aware !!

A scammer team or group of scammer people is watching your profile online.

If you are looking for a would-be/ better half/ husband for you online, please read this recent and real story before you decide to go online and find a partner for your life.

You must be wondering/ searching your husband online as you are habitual of buying things on cart :) and you go on the matrimonial websites like shaadi.com, matrimonial.com, bharatmatrimony.com But do you really think that your information is safe ; when you register on these websites? ...  Will you be able to get the right person online, or you are only going to be a customer for these companies? 

 I am not in oppose of any online portal because everyone is following the technology for ease and feast, but nobody can secure the privacy to an extent to save females.

I recently uploaded my sister's profile online (shadi.com) and I was seeking a  better half for her. Many people contacted me and I spoke to several families. In the meantime, someone contacted me and told me that he is a dentist from Germany. My mind got changed for a while and I decided to talk to person, who presented himself as a doctor in Germany:

Like me, everyone Looks for a better person who is financially strong, well to do and keep our sister with proper love and affection. We always try to compare lot of qualities in every person. Like we compare features of electronic gadget and look for other aspects. Pros and cons of the life and then we start chatting with the people we think who will be good to start. We end up chatting, calling or using other communication channels for conversion of prospective proposals. 

I uploaded few pictures of my sister in the profile, thus I was looking for a genuine and legitimate person for her.  When people started talking to me, few were from India itself and few were from foreign. So being the middle-class family, we always respect the values and  culture. Also we always show our hospitality and gratitude, towards boys that we look as our future family member.

I was very happy that somebody is reaching out to us from Germany, who is the dentist. So I thought that we are going to get a good person, who will fulfill the desire of my sister and will keep her well.  Since we were new, we did not know about the culture of foreign countries so I decided to enquire about that person. Like,  what is his background?  where did he come from?

He said that he got the profile from bengalimatrimony.com, so I said OK. As I thought there might be some connection, between Bengali matrimony and shaadi.com. I was the only one who was inquiring initially to check, if the person is genuine/ legitimate or not.

So I asked about the family background of the person, why he is interested in our profile? Despite being a middle-class family. He told me a story that he is from a Bengali family and he was living in Tamil Nadu. Due to some reason, his uncle murdered his parents and thus he had to move to Germany with her two sisters. They studied there and established themselves. Till now the story seemed good and legitimate. Since Shadi.com's chat box was so slow, hence we decided to chat somewhere else. I shared my WhatsApp number with him and I got a message from his germany number (+49 1521 2596691). We  started talking at length.

I continued talking to him and I further asked "what is your plan?" so he told me that he wanted to shift to India permanently without sisters, as they will be married soon.  I said OK, again I asked what is the further plan like:
Where would you live?  and what would be the business?  He told me that he is a dentist and he wanted to be shifted to India permanently wherever his would be will want, then I said OK, fair enough. Then I asked him, when you people are planning to come to India?
He said, we are planning to come soon. After some time, he sent me a ticket where he and his sister's name was mentioned for the flight after 3-4 days.

The flight was coming from Germany to London and then London to Mumbai ( Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal ) and it appeared little genuine to me, because I was only concentrating on the meeting with the person who is coming from so far and ignored silly information. I did not even check the ticket if it was legitimate or not, as I was so excited about this relation.

In the ticket, the date was already mentioned that they are flying on 30th of October 2018 and they will reach on 31st of October 2018 to Mumbai.

Then I further asked that, how long they will be staying in India. Since till 10th of October, my sister's practical will be over in the school. As  she is a teacher and if they want to meet us before 10th, they will have to come to Kanpur and currently, I was in Noida so I also needed to book a ticket for myself.

The date came "31st October 2018" and groom party reached to Mumbai Airport. So initially they were trying to call me up, but my phone was not reachable due to some reasons. So, they called my sister and informed that they have reached Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal or Mumbai Airport. They said, that they are held by Custom Officer because they brought a lot of cash in euros with them. They asked 65,000 INR for the clearance and then they can come out from Mumbai custom office. My sister did not know anything about this because she never dealt with this kind of situation. She  never heard any kind of stories like this, so she was shocked.

She immediately called me on another number and informed me that they were trying to call you, but your phone is not reachable. Also since the morning, they are stuck in the customs office locker room and they are being interrogated. I wondered what's the matter?  why the interrogation is going on? why they are asking about the money? She asked me,  to call them up.

After some time, they started messaging me up and they said that we are in the locker room of the customs office. Suddenly, I started thinking about all the possibilities that can occur. Then I called the same number (+91-7028506110) from which my sister received the call.  As per their statement, the number belonged to a custom officer. When I called on the number, a custom officer (fake) picked up the phone and she asked me several questions about them:

 Do you know Peter who came from Germany?
I said yes, they came to see my sister for marriage.

Do you know that they brought lots of cash ( In Euro's) and due to elections, they are held by us and they will only be released if they pay the clearance fees? 
I said, how much will be the clearance fees.

She replied that total amount was 1 lakh 65 thousands and Peter paid 1 lakh already. Now  you need to pay the rest of the amount, which is 65000 INR. I was shocked and I said let me talk to Peter please. When I started talking with them, they (Peter and his sister) started crying on the phone. I asked, what happened? Why you people are crying? They said "we are held by Custom Officer". I asked the reason, why did it happen? Peter told me that he brought lots of Euro's in cash and it was small amount in Germany. They did not know that it could create a problem. Since I was coming for almost 30 days with my sister, that is why I brought these much of money. Please have a word with the officer and rescue us. They also said that the Wi-Fi network is very weak here.

I said ok, let me have a word with her and she spoke to me as a real officer talks with hyper-confidence and dominating nature. She spoke to me like she is an employer and I am a labour. She started saying that Mr Peter Mann and Jenny Johnson came from Germany to meet with you. They had a lot of euros in their bag and if you convert the amount in Indian rupees, that will be approximately 84 lakh INR. Since the amount was very huge and as per the Indian government more than 10, 000 currency comes under money laundering, which everyone has to declare in custom office.

As the officer told me that your party is in the interrogation room and their luggage is being seized. So they need to do the clearance,  which is approximate 1,65,000 INR and your party Mr Peter Mann has given One Lakh INR to us. I said fair enough,  So now the officer asked me to pay 65,000 rupees to do the clearance. Only after that, they can come out and then they will book the ticket for further location. I said ok since I did not want any kind of trouble and it seemed scam or illegal to me. I asked her- why can't you exchange some more euro's from their bag and pay the clearance fees? She said that it's being seized,  so it is not possible.

I had multiple conversations with the officer and Mr Peter Mann on the same number. When I called, it was never picked up and I always get a call from their side from the same number. When I spoke to him this time, he started crying along with a sister badly and then he said that "please come here and rescue us, we will not be able to survive like this. It's being eight hours that we are sitting in the locker room". I said ok let me do something and I disconnected the phone. I wanted to inform my brother about this, who was in the US but he must be sleeping (due to different time zone) at that point in time. So, I did not understand what to do.

After some time the same officer again called me again and she made me talk to the party, because they were panicking a lot. So I spoke to them and they started blaming me that "why did you set us up like this?" I said what do you mean by "setup". Every minute was crucial for me, as I may lose a good opportunity or I may be stuck in the worst situation. In fact, I was so confused about what to do. By now, it was sure that something illegal is going on in the background. I called and they called me back and then I asked from the same officer: "Could you please give me a call from your landline number?" so that I could verify the number and have some record. The officer responded in the offended tone: "ok, you can check the same number on the internet".

When I checked the same number in google with a proper keyword, it came as a result with custom website. However, on the website itself it was striked down which is shown in the picture:

I felt that either this number must be used in the past, or there might be some other reason. Hence it seemed fishy to me. Then I said, let me come over there and give you the money and rescue them up. She said ok, but that was going to take a long time ; which is around 8 to 10 hours because I needed to book the flight ticket from Delhi to Mumbai. Mr. Peter then requested please come soon because if it is going to take some more time, then we will not be here we will go back to Germany. I said ok let me try something else. Till now there was no scenario of marriage or any relationship, I only felt that I must have to arrange the money at all costs. Since they are in trouble because of me and I can't let them suffer. So I asked any alternative method to send the money, to the custom officer. So  she said "As of now there is no option to receive the money, but let me check what I can do" and then she disconnected the phone.

After some time same officer called me and said that, I am going to send you a bank account number where you can deposit the amount. Then, we will release the luggage along with them and then they will book the ticket to Delhi or Kanpur; wherever they want to. So, I agreed to it. After sometime I received the bank account details, where I needed to deposit the amount. But, the account details was for Delhi location it was for "Arshad Khan Enterprises" with the branch code of Delhi:

 

and that changed my mind completely. It was proved as a scam, which forced me not to send any money via bank account. Then, I asked them few more questions . Since they already said that they have a weak wifi signal but I ignored willingly, I again asked them to please have a video calling or send some pictures with her sister. Pictures of the officer or some pictures of the surrounding, but they stopped responding and they did not send anything. There could be any scenario at their location, but I needed to verify first.

Since I was still little nervous about this case because this was absolutely new to me. So I consulted the same with my friends and tried to find some network in Mumbai. Finally,  I found my friend whose brother was living in Mumbai so I got some relaxation. At this point in time, I was not sure weather this is a scam or true incident.

I was very curious and wanted to know the reality. So I made a conference call (without telling anyone) with my friend, who has been supporting global customers for so long and I called the same mobile number. I requested from the officer to let me talk to them. Peter again came on the phone and he was crying as earlier. But suddenly, his sister snatched the phone and she was also crying. On the call I did not speak, my friend started speaking and I was listening only. After some time I spoke and I introduced my friend,  that he is in the conference call and he is on the way with money to your location. When she came to know that someone is in the conference call, she got offended and started saying that why someone is in the conference call. Saying that, I don't want to talk to anyone in the conference call and phone got disconnected.


Then, my friend told me that it was completely a scam as they were only after money. They may have a complete setup with foreign performers. Since the account number belonged to Delhi, there is a possibility that they may be in Delhi Itself. By tone, she seems to be Nigerian and the boy seems to be a german.

Again I called the custom officer and told her that my friend is on the way with the money. I asked her to send the address, which is shown in the above picture and then entire scenario changed. Officer told me that no one else can meet with the party except me and my sister,  due to security reasons. I said, this was not the situation before and now when I arranged the money, suddenly you have added a condition, how?

On my request, my friend again called on the same number from his end. He  observed laughing and chuckling in the background. While the officer was talking seriously and trying to gain the trust, he came to know the entire situation. After some time a group of people started abusing my friend badly, on the same phone call.


Then I tried checking the ticket details online, and it showed a different information altogether. 


After some time again I received a call from the same number and officer kept asking me what to do. I said, I don't trust you people.  I don't have any other pictures of Peter or his sister, neither I can do video call. I am not able to verify that you are in Mumbai or somewhere else. I gained some more confidence so I was little happy because my sisters was safe, from being a part of this kind of scam. But they wasted my time hence I decided to do a police complaint, I decided that I will call the police so I messaged Mr Peter Mann.

I dialled "100" unfortunately that phone did not connect to the police helpline. I tried 4 times,  but all the times it was not connecting. I was thinking that this is the safest number which can be dialled with any sim or without sim, which does not require any tariff or top-up. After multiple tries, I dropped the idea to the complaint.

After some time when I stopped responding, Mr Peter Mann started abusing me as well.

Summary: On this online website, it is not possible for them to identify- who is genuine and who is scammer. So, it is our responsibility to check every document and information to identify. Never pay even a single rupee,  whatever would be the situation.

Be safe ... Miragical.